Italy has agreed to be closely monitored by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The IMF and European leaders are pressing Italy to adopt a program to cut pensions and expand privatization of state resources. The European debt crisis is topping the agenda at the G20 summit in Cannes, France. Outside the meeting, activists are calling for new taxes on financial transactions in order to raise millions of dollars to fight poverty around the world. Backers of the so-called Robin Hood tax include Oxfam and the World Wildlife Foundation. British actor Bill Nighy spoke on behalf of Oxfam.

Bill Nighy: “We need to fix the system. The Robin Hood tax goes some way to helping to fix the system. Sure, the situation in Greece is serious and dramatic. There is no reason for that to impede the progress of the Robin Hood tax to any degree. If anything, it makes it more urgent, because the poor, in the end, are the people who are targeted. They are the people who catch it the worst.”